Sunday, 27 September 2015

New sock label to Violent Green store is ODD PEARS. These socks have been causing a bit of a stir amongst guys/girls and anyone that's a fan of the sock. We thought it fitting to catch up with founder BROCK and hear what he had to say.

Hey Brock! I’m Zoe, nice to meet you and
thanks for taking the time to speak with Violent Green!

All good, you guys have been one
of my favourite Brisbane stores forever so, truly, thank YOU!

Wow, thanks for that!

So to kick this off, can you give us a little
insight as to how Odd Pears started off? Is this your first business where you
are your own boss? And who are the other Odd Pears in your team?

Inspired by a personal love affair
with brightly coloured, mismatching socks, Odd Pears has been happening for
just over 18 months now. Initially started as an online business we’ve started wholesaling in the last
2 months. Between myself and Carla McRae (aka ThePaper Beast aka our
Creative Director) we managed the business for over a year. In the last 2
months we’ve
had Gus come on board as Head of Sales and part time online marketers, Courtney
and Anrich, who consult on a month-to-month basis.

Awesome! That's great to hear you guys growing so fast. We know that Odd Pears are super loud and
colourful, where do you draw your inspiration for colour ways and design?

Carla, our Creative Director,
draws inspiration from everywhere. In September, 2014, we sent Carla to Japan.
This trip formed the basis for an entire range we later released where things
like bubble gum wrapper and metro tickets provided beautiful colour ways and
pattern inspiration.

Damn, that's a dream job to be shipped to Japan for inspo! So after you have the perfect print idea,
what are the following steps?

We design an entire collection
which is then sent to our manufacturer for samples. From these samples our
collection is culled until we have a range which truly work together and
compliment each other. Upon finalising this range our production order is
placed when we sit patiently and eagerly await its arrival. The whole process
generally takes between 2-3 months.

Man, I bet that waiting time must kill you! Will you guys be doing any collabs with other
designers/artists?

We’ve got some super special exclusive collaborations coming up.
Next year it is our aim to release a new, limited run, exclusive collaboration
sock every month or two. I’d hate to spoil the surprise but I’ll say we’re working with Artists from all
over the world with specialities in a variety of different mediums.

Looking forward to seeing these collabs! As a business owner, what have been some of
the main obstacles you’ve endured?

Everyday there are triumphs and
failures. I believe in 2 steps forward 1 step backwards and I’m no longer naive enough to
believe nothing goes wrong or that it will be ‘easy’.
The greatest obstacle we’ve
had to overcome thus far was at Christmas time last year there was an issue
with our production order which meant it would not arrive until January. The
retail industry’s
whole year is one big runway leading to Christmas where things take off. So, we
had no/very limited stock, and no new stock but we salvaged the season by
having the support of an amazing community and the execution of a great online
marketing strategy. December, 2014 was make or break and we were fortunate
enough to nail it.

Glad to hear that you nailed it! And what would be the biggest success/
accomplishment Odd Pears has come across?

Odd Pears’website
now attracts over 50,000 page views a month and has been visited by people in
over 163 countries speaking 123 different languages. 30% of all visitors are
Returning Visitors meaning we’ve been somewhat successful in building a little Odd Pears family.
Just in the last 10 days we have shipped online orders to Hungary, Romania,
Ireland, USA, U.K, Canada, Taiwan, New Zealand, Japan and Singapore.
Personally, I think this is mind blowing and something which could never have
been achieved less than a decade ago.

What an time to be alive with the internet, right?!

Having an Odd Sock in a pack of three is such
a unique idea. Where did you get the idea to package up 3 socks instead of the
stock standard two?

I was a white collar, 9-5er for a
financial planning firm in Noosa, QLD. Over my 2 years I built somewhat of an
obsession for brightly coloured socks. Matching, mismatching, it didn’t matter. As long as they were
colorful! This obsession led to an idea which, eventually, led to Odd Pears’birth.

Hahah, sick! And do you have a favourite “Pear”?

Gahhh! So tough!! I’m going to lock in Mose. It’s a beautiful green meets green
colours we were yet to really experiment. They’re simple and beautiful and I love them.

I dig those too!

The label has been super successful now
stocking in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, did you think the label was
going to grow as fast as it did?

We were fortunate because we had
amassed an audience and following over the first 12 months as an online brand.
Because of this the transition into wholesaling was smooth and we didn’t have to spend as much time convincing
people Odd Pears was a product that would sell. We could prove it by directing
people to our website/facebook/instagram/tumblr etc and showing them that their
is a huge market for unisex, brightly coloured, mismatching socks.

When you’re not designing, how do you like to
unwind?

Surf, Coffee, Golf, Friends, Bars,
honestly I’m
living the dream. Whilst life is pretty crazy I’m quick to remind myself that most people actually have to be up
at 6:30am and in the office or onsite by 8:30 (at the latest!) and not leave
until 5:00pm. In addition I have the support of an incredible girlfriend,
amazing family and beautiful friends so, fortunately, unwinding isn’t all that hard.

Damn, living the dream Brock, that is awesome.

Is there any music /art/ films you’ve been
inspired by that helps the design process?If yes, care to share?

Between you, me and everyone
reading Wes Anderson has inspired multiple socks and featured on our blog in
various forms close to 5 times now. 2 styles are directly inspired by colour
ways and patterns first noticed in The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Life
Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Can you guess which?

I think I'll have to re-watch them. Love those films, especially TGBH.

Finally, what can we expect from Odd Pears in
the future?

Odd Pears is growing and we’re now working with distributors
in Hong Kong, Taiwan and New Zealand. Additionally, we’re in talks with distributors in
Israel, Canada, USA and Japan. Soon, you can expect to see an Odd Pears
stockist in almost every country on Earth! We also promise to stay true to our
art/design roots and most importantly keep making the worlds most beautiful socks!

Thanks again for your time, Brock. We can’t
wait to see what’s coming next!

posted by zoegreen

ODD PEARS IS EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE IN BRISBANE CITY AT VIOLENT GREEN ALBERT STREET STORE.